Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 692

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 692

Originally, as a senior, he should be happy that an outstanding underclassman had entered the tower, but even considering that, the underclassman before his eyes was too…

…unlike a first-year.

‘What kind of guy is this?’

“You, which family did you say you were from?”

“Don’t forget. If there’s something you want to eat, you need to give us advice or information about smuggling.”

Instead of answering, Lee Han subtly changed the subject.

Erde didn’t notice and was led along.

“Are you telling me to betray my comrades? Me, Erde of the Marcang family?”

“Didn’t you just try to run away by invoking your family name?”

“Shh. Priest Siana. He’s still a senior.”

He could hear other underclassmen whispering behind him, but Erde wasn’t shaken.

If you lose your composure from being embarrassed by such whispers, you’re not qualified to be an Einroguard student.

“Tell me. Do you think this Erde of the Marcang family would betray his comrades!”

“…Are you perhaps trying to raise the conditions right now?”

Lee Han asked just in case.

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like he was subtly sending the message ‘I’ll betray them if there are decent conditions.’

“What do you take me for! More importantly, my comrades would know about my betrayal, wouldn’t they? Unless there’s a way to prevent that!”

“After kidnapping you, Senior, we checked the entire surroundings. No one followed separately. When you’re released later, just say you were kidnapped by the Principal’s Death Knights. The Principal is always a good excuse. Your comrades probably won’t think you were kidnapped by underclassmen.”

“Hey, that’s really a good method!”

Erde exclaimed without realizing it.

The first-year underclassman before his eyes had the charisma to make him forget the fact that he had just been captured.

Indeed, he wasn’t leading this kidnapper group for nothing.

‘He might be destined for great things!’

“…”

“…”

Belatedly noticing the underclassmen’s gazes, Erde cleared his throat.

“It’s not that I’m betraying them. I was just impressed.”

“Yes…”

“Lee Han. Let’s quickly raise the conditions. It seems like he’ll accept if we raise them.”

“Hey! What an insult!”

Erde only pretended to be angry and looked at Lee Han.

It meant to hurry up and make a proposal if he was going to.

Yoner thought to himself.

‘Are all seniors like this…?’

Even though he had adapted to Einroguard, he didn’t expect it to be to this extent.

Lee Han calmly looked at his senior.

He could have proposed gold coins or various artifacts, but Lee Han had no intention of wasting the fortune he had accumulated through blood and sweat during the vacation.

“Senior. I have only one condition to propose.”

“What is it?”

“If you help us, we’ll smuggle your items along with ours when we do our smuggling.”

“…Hahahaha!”

Erde, who had been listening quietly, burst into laughter.

Having laughed so hard he was gasping for breath, Erde looked at Lee Han as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Are you serious? You really planned to do smuggling among yourselves?”

“Otherwise, why would we confine you like this, Senior?”

“You guys are crazier than I thought.”

Erde looked up at the ceiling as if lamenting.

He didn’t want to say this, but today’s first-years were really too different from when he was a first-year.

To be this reckless and fearless!

“Fine. As a fellow Blue Dragon Tower member, and to commemorate meeting an underclassman like you, I’ll give you advice for free. Give up on smuggling among yourselves. Find other trustworthy seniors and join hands with them. Though I don’t know if you’ll be able to.”

“I think I can do it.”

Lee Han spoke calmly.

It wasn’t bravado or boasting, but he seriously felt the possibility.

However, Erde, who had no idea what Lee Han had done during his first year, shook his head and answered negatively.

“Let me tell you what will happen. The new semester will start and you’ll gather at the main gate. When you gather at the main gate, there will be the Principal’s speech. Then the search will begin, what do you think will happen?”

“Won’t we just get caught?”

At Gainando’s question, Erde clicked his tongue.

“No. The seasoned seniors will immediately find the most vulnerable student as soon as they see them. Someone has to be sacrificed for the surveillance and pressure to decrease. First-years doing smuggling? If it were me, I’d expose them immediately to draw attention. Everyone there would think the same way.”

Students attempting smuggling could risk their lives to create even a moment’s gap and commotion.

Such people wouldn’t show consideration just because they were first-year underclassmen. If they showed weakness, they would bite even more persistently.

Erde crossed his arms and looked at Lee Han.

No matter how bold a guy he was, after hearing this, his spirit couldn’t help but be broken…

“Thank you for the advice, Senior. Please let us know if you change your mind.”

“…?!!”

Erde was shocked.

What kind of heart made of steel did that guy have?

To remain so calm after hearing this, just what…

“Wait!”

As Lee Han and the underclassmen were about to leave the annex, Erde urgently shouted.

But after calling them, he couldn’t think of what to say.

Erde shouted as if bluffing.

This way, he couldn’t maintain his dignity in front of the underclassmen.

“It’s not my place to say this, but is it okay to confine me here like this? I might escape at any time, you know?”

“Ah. That’s why we’re going to deploy some summoned creatures.”

“You can’t keep surveillance with summoned creatures continuously. The mana…”

Lee Han just shrugged his shoulders and left with his friends.

The leopard-form summoned creature, Sharkan, yawned and crouched down in front of Erde.

As Erde stared intently at Sharkan, Lee Han poked his head out from outside the door and said.

“Senior. If you attack Sharkan, I’ll set a basilisk on you.”

“Got it, got it!”

If nothing else, Erde could tell that this underclassman wasn’t good at jokes.

A basilisk? What kind of lame joke was that?

* * *

‘What are they doing?’

For the next few days, Erde sat in the upper room of the annex and watched the front courtyard, garden, and storage.

During his stay here, there were several facts he had realized.

First, this group of first-year kidnappers didn’t seem to have worked together just once or twice. Their coordination was exceptionally good.

The way they precisely divided personnel to go out and come back from outside the manor and distributed roles was movement impossible without mutual trust.

They were underclassmen from different towers, so how could they be so well-coordinated?

Going out and coming back, then going out and coming back again…

Each time, the leader of that group would bring something back and tell his friends ‘I figured out the method.’

It couldn’t be that he had figured out the methods of other seniors preparing for smuggling, so he was truly curious about what he was talking about.

Another fact was that changes had occurred to the carriages in the storage area.

The carriage decorations disappeared, the interior space became wider, and reinforcements were added to the floor and axles.

It seemed like they were trying to use them as cargo carriages.

Not stopping there, the first-year students painted emblems on the carriages. They were emblems that seemed familiar from somewhere.

‘Where have I seen… Huh?’

Come to think of it, there seemed to be a trading company with that kind of emblem among the trading companies in Granden City.

‘…Why are they making a trading company cargo wagon?’

Erde pondered for a long time, but no matter how much he thought about it, no answer came to mind.

Why on earth would they make a trading company cargo wagon?

“Hey.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Erde called his junior.

“Did you call for me?”

“…What are you doing right now?”

“If you want to know, cooperate with me.”

“…Fine! Fine!”

Erde turned around angrily.

However, Lee Han wasn’t easy enough to be shaken by such tactics.

When his junior showed no reaction, it was ultimately Erde who felt regretful and spoke first.

“What exactly do you want from me? Let me tell you first, smuggling isn’t that easy. It’s not something that’ll work just because I help you guys.”

“I know that. And I’ve prepared the smuggling method myself, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“…???”

What exactly and how?

“By what method?!”

“First, what I want to know is the methods of other upperclassmen who are attempting to smuggle.”

“Hmm.”

Erde nodded as if he had expected this.

He had somewhat guessed it from when he was asked to betray his comrades.

Understanding other students’ methods in advance when attempting smuggling was more important than one might think.

They could either copy those methods, or benefit by reporting those methods, or even if neither, they could at least prepare in advance. Smuggling was quite affected by accidents caused by other people.

“First, there’s the Deumcha Gang. Those guys are…”

“Ah. I know about them. They’ll use 【Lower Box Transformation】, right.”

“…How did you know that?!”

“Are there any others?”

Lee Han spoke with an attitude that said not to keep asking about unimportant things.

Erde was dumbfounded.

‘How did he find out…?’

“There’s the Ibanna Gang…”

“I know about them too. They’re planning to use Physical Enhancement magic and racial transformation magic together to transport things, but honestly, it looked a bit dangerous. It won’t be easy to endure the inspection while transformed into a large race.”

“Hey! If you know everything, why are you asking?!”

Erde shouted in exasperation.

He couldn’t even guess what this 1st year was thinking.

“What are you talking about, Senior. I’m asking because there’s a lot I don’t know.”

“Where else would there be someone who knows as much as you…! Tell me how you found out first!”

As if he wouldn’t let it pass unless he was told, Erde crossed his arms and sent a resolute gaze.

Lee Han answered with a face that said ‘Why does this senior keep bothering me by asking obvious things?’

“I approached the upperclassmen and asked them.”

“…What are you talking about. They wouldn’t just tell you.”

“I said I wanted to smuggle together and then extracted the information.”

“…”

Erde dropped the cup he was holding.

So right now, he had approached each group, deceived all the upperclassmen in the groups, and then extracted all the methods they were preparing?

‘Is that… possible?!’

“Anyway, Senior. Are there no more?”

“There’s my gang and… about one or two more teams, but I don’t know much about what upperclassmen above me are preparing. It’s better not to let it be known.”

“I understand.”

Lee Han nodded and picked up his quill pen to start organizing.

Even understanding just a part rather than everything would be of great help on the day.

“So… what method are you planning to use for smuggling? Let’s hear it.”

“I was just about to tell you. Among us, you’re the only one with inspection experience, Senior, so it seems like you’ll have to do it together.”

Erde was startled to realize that he was unknowingly feeling expectant.

Was he really expecting the clumsy smuggling plan of mere 1st year underclassmen?!

‘No, no. That’s impossible.’

However, the junior before his eyes had an atmosphere that gave credibility to that impossible situation.

Could it be…?!

“We’re going to pull a trading company cargo wagon into the underground passage, leave the smuggled goods, and get out.”

“…What… what…?”

At the completely unexpected plan, Erde was flustered, not knowing where to start pointing out problems.

“What are you talking about? Do you know where the underground passage is? Even if you found it, there would be guards, and not just any trading company can enter…”

“I’ve figured out where the underground passage is located. There will be guards, but the Warehouse Keeper will be upstairs, so it should be relatively easy. The trading companies that deliver supplies are predetermined. The emblem painted on the wagon now is that trading company’s emblem.”

“…”

Erde closed his eyes and began muttering.

Lee Han asked in puzzlement.

“What are you doing?”

“I must… be under an illusion spell. This is… an impossible dream. I need to wake up.”

“This is reality though.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————